Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1887-12-30


not. Yet he preteuds. Does he know
how his drugs acty No hut he pretends.
| Does he even know what Is the disease
which is killing his patient? NO; he gives
! it a name and classifes it according to its
symptoms. But he does not know it. Yet
| he pretends Does the physicist under
stand that nature whose laws he Is always
discovering? Not bit. He finds law
he discovers force. What then we
are no farther advanced. Who made the
law? Who directs the force lie does
not know But he pretends. Is the law
yer more competent thau yourself to man
age your affairs Not bit. But he pre-
tends. And to keep himself employed he
makes business as complicated as he can.
Dies the clergyman know any more about
the next world than we ourselves know
Not bit. But he pretends. In order to
keep himself going he pretends to super
natural powers. If he were not to pretend
his congregation would leave him. Is the
writer of the political articles in the papers
any better informed than his neighbors
Not Dit But he pretends. The world
is carried on by the men Of the professions,
and the men of the professions llve--they
all live-upon the credulty of the people"
Yes" said Paul. at is quite true"
"The best of it is that we all know it,
but we do not whisper it even among our
selves The whole of education is meant
to tit a clever man with the best means
for discovering and trading upon the Gre
dulity of mankind You and |, my dear
boy, and our tribe, are only like the clergy
man, the doctor and the lawyer We all
have our pretences and our shams on the
otheHhand we all have our natural gifts
ana the skill which comes from training,
You, with your machinery of the Hidden
and Ancient way, conceal or set off apDw
er which is real, though not so great rs
they believe. Is that a sufficient reply,
Paul, to this old prejudice ?'
Paul sighed.
ut is sufficient. | suppose. Let it pass,
Daddy. | was Il fool to be veXed with the
words of fanatic. Let us talk of other
| things. The time is running short. Only
few days now before the grand coup"
You will carry your grand COUP Paul.
In fact it cannot fall
"And after ?"
Eyes, Paul-after; what will follow ?"
81 am divided. | do not see my way so
clearly as | ought. cannot decide. 1t
seems as if nave lost nerve, of late"
AT this point, Paul. the path hecames
extremely perllouS. You propose to burn
your boats. 1t will be imposslb ole for you
to go back upon your steps. You can new
er, once having achieved results so mag
nlficent and unheard of, become the advis-
er and The oracle The fame of this achieve
ment will spread far and wide. Too much
will be expected Already the papers are
beginning to speak of the Indian paper
mystery. There is note on it in ye5ter-
days Pan Mail Gazette, and another in
St. Jdmes's Gazette. They are nasty
ones, but that you might expect. One of
them demands repetltlon-says That If
the thing could be done once it could be
done again the other asks for an author
lied and attested account of what was re-
ally done. Nothing could advertise you
better, and if knew the London journal
lists as | used to know those of New York,
| would keep the ball rolling with para
graph after paragraph. The time is come,
if you are to reap any solid advantage out
of these miracles, when the Press should
take up the thing seriously. Pau, the
more | think of it the more persuaded |
am that the Press exists chiefly for the
advancement of the adventurer. First he
begins to be noticed in short paragraph
and in an obscure corner of the paper-a
good many never set beyond that corner
If he is a good man he is able to push the
advantage next he advances to the stage
OF being reported whenever he makes
public appearance; thirdly, not only do
mis- utterances get printed, but his jour
neys and wanderings are published; he
has become a Man of the Age. Moral,
Paul You have excited the public curl
osty; keep ii up"
You are always wise, Daddy" said
Paul
viii you tell me, now, how you did the
Indian paper mystery ~
laughing "Daddy-lt was too simple.
almost feared that they would find it out
on the spot. Even Tom, who came on pur-
pose to detect me, was caught with the
rest Some day will tell you all about
it,
Very well. | will wait Remember,
Paul, you cannot be always working such
miracles as the appearance of this day S
paper brought from Delhi"
THAT is quite true said Paul. "And
it is the chief danger of the situation"
"People always expect more miracles
and fresh miracles. They will want you
to heal the sick"
81 have done it. The servants bring all
their friends who have got toothache or
headache. heal them by imposition of
hands. | can 90 on doing that ness-"
He stopped short.
"To get them messages from the other
world
That is always easy"
"To advise them rs to their conduct in
difficult junctures"
"Ihat is also easy. You have taught
me how to do that"
"To bring them to-day's Nc,D York Her
did,
Yes" said Paul. rubbing his chin.
"The Indian experiment cannot very well
be repeated"
you are going to save a family from
the loss of a great sum of money. They
|
getting into trouble"
"Ye-yes Perhaps that will be only
part of the advice or oracle business"
mo- because you can never put the
blame on the spirits. Your Friends must
be infallible. Paul, see only two ways
out of it,
| Namely"
1.-The first is to initiate your predecessor,
the illustrious Caghorto, and get as much
money out of your disciples as you can.
Form new Freemasonry as he did"
THE other way, Daddy"
THE other way would be to get your
College established under magnificent
name, and become the Director. Then
you could declare the Age of Miracles
closed, and SO prevent anybody else from
stepping into your shoes. You are clever,
Paul. There is nobody that ever heard
of who has possessed your gifts of quick
ness, thought reading and magnetic pow
ers. You must own that l cultivated
them"
You did, Daddy, you did"
yet quicker man than you may any
a hal No,